Operation MB8: convoys, reinforcements, and deception

The video places Operation Judgment alongside convoys to Greece and Malta, Operation Coat's reinforcements, and Ark Royal's strike on Cagliari. Returning traffic from Malta also allowed Cunningham to send the slower Ramillies away and retain four Queen Elizabeth-class battleships in a more homogeneous battle line. Across MB8, more than thirty destroyers, numerous cruisers, a monitor, carriers, and battleships supported several simultaneous purposes. These movements complicated Italian assessments of where the real danger lay while reconnaissance kept watch over Taranto. The air attack and the cruiser sortie into the Strait of Otranto were also bait for a fleet action in which Cunningham expected his concentrated battle line to hold the advantage.